Don’t Read This! Don’t See This!: Censorship and the Creative Truth of Words and Art

Censorship and the power of expression are relevant concepts in today’s world and the so-called “fake news” environment. Books and art are both connected to the ideals of intellectual freedom. As each has its own kind of beauty and sense of creative truth, they share a common connection to museums and their collections.

During the 1920s and ’30s in Germany, John Heartfield and other Dada artists showed their anti-Nazi collages in AIZ (Textile Worker’s) magazine. Heartfield’s photomontages attacked both National Socialism and Weimar capitalism. The last AIZ published in Berlin was dated March 5, 1933; after Hitler seized power, it moved to Prague, then to Paris in 1938, where it published its last few issues. Joseph Doherty, curatorial coordinator in the Department of Photography and New Media, will talk about issues of this important publication.

Dennis Michael Jon, senior associate curator in the Department of Prints and Drawings, will talk about the collaborative artists’ book Ten Years of Uzbekistan, 1994, by British artist Ken Campbell and Irish Author David King, a work with a focus on political oppression and Goya’s Los Caprichos (1797/98), an example of self-oppression as well as a satirical political treatise about the Spanish government and merchant class.

After the talk, audience members will gather in Mia’s Library and Print and Drawing Study Room to see the works up close. Books from the library’s collection of degenerate artists and artists that have some connection to the theme of censorship or intellectual creative expression will be displayed.

This event is held to coincide with Banned Books Week, which celebrates freedom to read and the free expression of ideas.

$10, $5 My Mia members, free to members of the Library, Photography and New Media and Prints and Drawings Affinity Groups.

Reserve tickets online or call 612.870.6323. Tickets available August 13.